Rapporti ISTISAN 09/49 ISTITUTO SUPERIORE DI SANITÀ Ageing ...

Rapporti ISTISAN 09/49
hypertension, diabetes and diseases related to age which can be prevented and are curable),
tertiary ageing (derivative processes which occur during the months preceding death).
2.15. Healthy behaviours
Our health, wellbeing and life expectancy may be influenced by adjustment to our lifestyle.
The factors we can correct directly are diet, exercise, smoking, alcohol intake and the degree to
which we expose ourselves to pollutants. Sleep, fluid intake, and excessive stress affect our rate
of ageing. There is a well-known list of life events which are related to stress. High on the list
are the deaths of a partner or child, loss or change of a job, financial crises and major illness.
Longevity relates to a sense of purpose and meaning in life, commitment within a
community and a quality of independent mindedness. In many respects the present cohort of 50
and 60 year olds represent a pioneer group. They grew up in the post war years when there was
a new spirit of freedom and they have retained a determination to find purpose in the later years
of their life. They represent a significantly large section of the community and are, therefore,
increasingly influential in economic terms (Perring, 2009).
Many gerontologists agree that high levels of physical, cognitive, and social functioning are
related to health and successful ageing. A large body of research and theoretical literature
confirms that physical, cognitive, and social functioning, broadly speaking, are key factors of
successful ageing and that multiple lifestyles choices, behaviours, and psychological factors
influence them. Empirical studies have shown that many age-associated declines in physical and
cognitive functioning can be explained in terms of lifestyle factors such as smoking, physical
activity, and nutrition (Franklin & Tate, 2009).
Older adults, who abstain from smoking, engage in physical activity and sustain quality
dietary habits, may improve their health span and quality of life. In this sense, the predictors of
successful ageing are in many ways under personal control (Franklin & Tate, 2009).
The identification of risk and protection is certainly one of the most relevant objectives of
health psychology. In mass media, sometimes even in scientific literature, the extent of risk is
presented in a way which, even if fundamentally correct, seems to be extremely misleading. A
certain way of presenting data, in order to modify people’s habits, transforms itself not in an
information action, but in a message which terrorises and destabilises. It is the case of antismoking
campaign (Thompson, 1978; Leventhal & Cleary, 1980; Maburn, 1982) where
exposition to terrorising messages rather than leading to a change of one’s behaviour, produces
the negation of it and a kind of desensibilisation which people carry out in order to avoid the
anguish caused by messages. A realistic evaluation of risks would seem to better allow the
individual to emotionally integrate the message and activate a process of change of his
behaviour. A careful analysis of the question underlines the importance of biological risk
factors, but above all their simultaneous presence with other factors and their interaction in each
individual. Many researches show that the adoption of certain habits and lifestyles by people are
linked to attitudes and beliefs people have about health. The impact that events like losses,
divorces or diseases have on the individual does not only depend on the kind of such events and
the physiological processes which are activated, but also on the ability of the individual to cope
with that specific situation. Such ability of facing situations is strongly influenced by the
interpretation the individual has carried out of the event and by the degree of social support
which he receives from his reference context (family, friends, peer groups) (Zani & Cicognani,
2000). On the other hand to define what healthy behaviours or behaviours dangerous for health
are is not easy.
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